1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to disposal of demilitarized rocket motors and, more particularly, to an apparatus for after-burning of rocket exhaust products.
2. Description of Related Art
The government currently has hundreds of thousands of ordnance items nearing the end of their shelf life, which for reasons of safety, the government must dispose of. Current disposal strategies involving open burning or open detonation result in environmental contamination, which will probably not be permitted in the future.
Moreover, many of the recovery strategies for disposal of old ordnance are considered unsafe with some propellant formulations. Contamination with heavy metals also limits the choice of disposal techniques. Combustion of propellants into a confined space to permit scrubbing results in the generation of quantities of explosive gas mixtures on a time scale that conventional disposal equipment cannot respond to. Explosions of these explosive gas mixtures could cause expensive damage to cleanup equipment.
Solid rocket motors, which are required to be burned for demilitarization, are known to produce combustible gases and products that are environmentally harmful. Previous attempts to dispose of rocket motors by contained burning resulted in an explosive mixture being present because of incomplete burning in the rocket motor exhaust. The destruction of these gases by effective after-burning can eliminate an explosive hazard in a containment vessel, and greatly reduce harmful products vented to the atmosphere.
A rocket motor must produce high supersonic velocities for maximum thrust. Because of the high differential in velocities between the rocket motor plume and the surrounding air, mixing of fuel and air is poor, and combustion incomplete.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for the complete and rapid burning of explosive gases generated by the burning of rocket motors.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for the disposal of rocket motors without a potential buildup of explosive gas mixtures.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for the disposal of rocket motors which will permit the rapid depletion of concentrations of explosive gas mixtures.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for the after-burning of exhaust gases from rocket motors to effectively eliminate any explosive hazard, and greatly reduce harmful products vented to the atmosphere.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.